Homophobic bullying commonplace in high school physical education classes, new research suggests

School physical education lessons are rife with homophobic bullying, new research suggests.

The study, funded by BeyondBlue, found 80 per cent of gay, lesbian and gender-diverse students have experienced casual homophobic language in their secondary school physical education classes.

Casual homophobic language is described as phrases such as "that's so gay", where the word gay is not specifically a slur but was found to be very distressing to same-sex-attracted and gender-diverse students.

The study suggested homophobic language in school settings needed to be challenged to improve sports and physical education experiences for homosexual and gender-diverse students.

The gendered nature of sport was pointed out as being challenging for gender-diverse youths, with the report suggesting the needs of this group be further explored to encourage participation.

The research also found same-sex-attracted and gender-diverse youth reported significantly higher mental health and wellbeing concerns than heterosexual youth.

BeyondBlue CEO Georgie Harman said such bullying causes them to have heightened levels of depression and anxiety.

"Homophobia is a form of discrimination that can affect extremely badly how you feel about yourself," she said.

"Throwaway lines hurt, they stay with you, and they can compound the stigma and discrimination not only about being same-sex-attracted or gender-diverse but also the stigma and discrimination that still exists around mental illness."

Ms Harman called on physical education teachers to intervene, by modelling non-homophobic behaviour and by stamping out verbal abuse when they see it.